The Panopteles is a high-performance military starship first developed in late YE 30 by the Elysian Celestial Navy. Like the El-B1-1a Crataeis-class Command Ship and El-S1-1 Lilaea-class Gunship, the Panopteles is a single living organism, and it borrows liberally from the design of both ships. It has yet to be introduced to any of the major fleets (aside from prototypes), as testing is not yet complete, and mass production is slated to begin in truth in YE 34.

The El-S1-2 was designed and introduced to fill in a void in Elysia's naval forces with a high-speed, mid-power, but low-defensive attack vessel to complement the more defensively oriented El-B1-1a Crataeis-class Command Ship, the fast but lightly armed El-E1-1a Concordia-class Scout, the fast strike craft styled El-S1-1 Lilaea-class Gunship and the powerful but somewhat sluggish El-D2-1a Thantros-class Destroyer.

The El-S1-2 features exceptional propulsion in both STL and FTL coupled with a solid complement of powerful weapons, most notably the Elysian Battle Cannons. It is complemented by a wide range of sensory systems as well as some stealth. Its defensive capacity is reduced when compared to most warships, however, in order to assist with cost-cutting, and to cut down on the ship's overall profile for stealth purposes.

The Panopteles, being very impressive in its capabilities for a ship of its size, can handle a number of missions. It is best suited to scouting, seek and destroy, and exploration due to the powerful armaments, high speed, sensors, and stealth. As it lacks in defensive capabilities and has limited cargo space, the Panopteles is poorly suited to command, escort missions, logistics/transportation, and diplomacy. Its limited staying power, offensively speaking, makes it ill-suited to sustained combat, such as with a major fleet.

The Panopteles is a thin, long craft, with a broad wingspan similar to that of a dedicated atmostpheric fighter craft, only upscaled. Its wings are canted toward the fore of the ship, with a large viewport on the front half of the bridge, allowing for a wide range of visuals and clear lines of sight. It supports two large sublight engines on the aft end, with the sensors showing up clearly on the dorsal region of the main ship body.

The Panopteles class was developed alongside the Lilaea-class to fill in the other major gap in Elysian fleets, which is a dedicated scouting and exploration class of ships. It was tested alongside the Lilaea for most of its tenure, though to a lesser extent. The first pair of true prototypes have only just been put into service, with two veteran captains put in charge of them to run them through the final testing of systems.

Class: El-S1-2a Type: Scoutship Designers: Elysian Celestial Navy Manufacturer: Elysia Veritas Shipyards Production: The Panopteles has only just finished primary testing, and as such has only recently entered protoype production. Fielded by: Elysian Celestial Navy

Crew: Four operators are recommended, but only one is required. Maximum Capacity: There are accommodations for 6 people in crew quarters (12 if everyone is bunking together) and 2 officer's quarters.

About 48 people can fit aboard in an emergency, but the ship would be extremely cramped.

Length: 90 meters (295.28 feet) Width: 87 meters (285.43 feet) (from the tips of the 'wings') Height: 12 meters (39.37 feet) Decks: 2 (4 meters each)

CFS/CDD: 18,750c (~2.14 ly/h) Hyperspace Fold Drive: 447,066c (0.85 ly/m) Sublight Engines: 0.4c Lifespan: Approximately 10 years, though this has not been completely tested. Refit Cycle: Occasional (every 2 to 4 years).

See Damage Rating (Version 3) for an explanation of the damage system.

• Hull: 8
• Shields: 10 (Threshold 1 - typically shield power is diverted to the bow, for a threshold of 3 at the front of the ship and 1 in the rest of the sections, with this process shifted to whichever direction the greatest threat is in.)

• A - Elevators
• B - Officer's Quarters
• C - Enlisted Quarters
• D - Chapel
• E - Bridge
• F - Armory
• G - Main gun ammunition storage/maintenance (fore) & Main Engineering (aft)
• H - Power Armor Bay / Loading Bay
• I - Cargo Storage Compartments
• J - Wardroom / Recreation Room
• K - Medical
• L - Kitchenette / Food storage
• M - Medical Storage
• N - Engineering Storage

The armory is located on Deck 2, directly next to the elevators. The armory is stocked only with infantry based weaponry; the power armor weaponry is located in the cargo storage compartments. Contents (port)

• 4 Pelphrys Particle Pulse Autocannons
• 12 Atromos Particle Beam Rifles
• 24 Sersis Variable Pistols
• 4 Dresde Under-Slung Grenade Launchers

Contents (starboard)

• 32 Sperion Mini-Grenades
• 4 Phaelaes War Spears
• 8 Xiphos Infantry Blades
• 12 Aspis Infantry Shields

The bridge of the Panopteles class is located at the foremost section of Deck 1, with a 180° windshield providing effective eyes only range, in addition to the sensors built in. It actually houses more stations then strictly necessary for the operation of the ship, to provide for the possibility of additional bridge crew for combat situations. The stations consist of command, piloting, engineering, gunnery, and sensors/science officer.

The officer's quarters, located towards the center of Deck 1, are a pair of well-furnished rooms devoted to the captain and second officer (or other upper officers). They are 'carpeted' with an internal organ of the Panopteles , which is exceptionally soft, and absorbs accumulated dirt and filth (which is then broken down and digested)(it is remarkably similar to a commercially produced shag rug). Each room is much nicer then the enlisted quarters, though that is a relative matter of quality. They contain a queen-size bed, a large-ish dresser, and a desk, in addition to several drawers and shelving units on the walls and in the base of the bed.

There are two cargo storage areas, located on either side of the power armor bay. The starboard storage area is primarily used for the storage of spare parts and weaponry for the ship's modest complement of power armor's, while the port compartment is mainly occupied with spare food supplies, of the non-perishable sort. Either can easily be emptied, allowing for storage of any cargo taken on without much (if any trouble). Contents (port)

• various food supplies

Contents (starboard)

• 8 Transphased Plasmatic Pulse Rifles
• 8 El-M2-3a Standard Service Rifle
• 14 Monomolecular Combat Knives
• 24 Generator Missile Pods

There are six rooms for the general crew, each containing a bunk bed, a set of shelves/drawers built into the wall and frame of the bed, and a pair of desks. They are carpeted with a similar form of the organism to the officer's quarters, though of a slightly lower quality and rougher weave. Typically the crew will have rooms to themselves, up until there are more crew then rooms, at which point the lowest ranking crewmen will share rooms (unless there are volunteers).

The Panopteles comes equipped with a full, very well taken care of chapel, as is appropriate on any true Elysian ship. It comes with a modest podium, and well maintained and carved wooden seating for the entire crew. Regular services can be held for the entire crew. The walls on the interior of the chapel appear similarly to stained glass, to replicate the atmosphere of churches on Elysia Novus itself, though this material can easily be reabsorbed by the ship's organisms to prevent damage in the event of combat.

The engineering section of the ship is located in the aft-most region of Deck 2, and takes up the large majority of the space, with the remainder of that space being taken up by storage compartments on either side of the engineering area, with spare parts and equipment necessary for maintaining the ship. Despite these precautions, the ship mainly maintains itself, since most of its systems can be seen as “internal organs” rather then machines in their own right. This creates the interesting nature of the Elysian engineer, however, as any fully trained Elysian engineer is part mechanic, part engineer, part biologist, and part medic, in order to be capable of maintaining the diverse systems around them.

Maintenance conduits lie underneath the large majority of the walls on the Panopteles. These provide direct access to nearly every system just by popping the external covering off, assuming the user knows where to look.

The medical bay, as befits the Elysian train of thought, is highly advanced and streamlined. It utilizes a very simple version of the standard ST backup system, as well as the body replication systems, to ease the process of either transferring bodies or recreating a body for soldiers fallen in combat. However, due to the extremely limited space available onboard the Panopteles, there is only one such pairing. The remainder of the space is taken up by a surgery station, and two other operating stations. There is a very well stocked, mid-sized medical storage are just fore of the medical bay itself, with spare supplies (and arguably the perfect place for a medic to catch a few winks without someone finding them quickly).

The corridors and passageways of the Panopteles do not appear organic, rather looking like a glossy silver-white metal. The ship can have a display panel, or a console grow out of the wall when required. The corridor’s are also equipped with a complex set of volumetric display projectors, which can create sophisticated three dimensional and extremely convincing illusions inside the ship. The actual purpose of this is not one for defense, although it can be utilized as such, but to fight off any sense of claustrophobia the Elysians might have. The Panopteles has organs that can project force fields within the corridors for defensive purposes, or to enhance the illusions it creates. Though zero-gravity is not used, the Panopteles does preserve energy by keeping gravity at a low 0.2 G. In combat situations, gravity is turned off completely in all sections save the bridge and engineering, and handles can be grown on any surface of the ship to provide for simple 0-G travel.

The power armor bay (which also doubles as the ship's loading bay) is located just fore of the ships engineering area on the second deck. The armors deploy via an opening in the floor (filled with a powered door system that splits down the middle of the ship and slides out of the way), which is closed when the ship is not actively being loaded or armor is being deployed. The armor complement for the ship (4 Hikael Power Armors and 4 Tethys Power Armors) line the port and starboard walls of the bay, with four on either side of the bay. Each armor's individual rack also holds the standard armament on either side of the rack, easily detachable and accessible either on foot or in the armor itself (one rifle, one combat knife, the helmet, and a standard back attachment with supplies for detached missions).

The wardroom (which doubles as the recreation area for the ship) is located just fore of the power armor bay, and just aft of the armories. It includes booth tables (enough to seat 12 people total), and a slightly lower area with a table (3d projector built in) surrounded by couches, which is meant to be used as a briefing area/relaxing area. Just fore of the wardroom is a small kitchenette, combined with the basic food storage area (though the majority of food for any long mission is stored in the main storage compartments). The entire room is well carpeted and decorated, to better put the crew at ease when spending time in this section of the ship.

Located directly underneath the bridge, and taking up nearly all of the space in the foremost part of the lower deck, the primary gun systems are directly accessible from this room, as is the ammunition storage for the ship's missile pods and spare weapons. This is one of the most heavily armored sections of the ship (second only to the chapel and the Soul Transfer pod in Engineering), and also the one with the highest security measures. Only those expressly permitted entry by the captain in the ship's systems are given access, and the door is locked at all times. Contents

• 48 El-Z1-1001 Elysian Transphasic Missile
• 4 Elysian Miniature Sensor Drone

The Panopteles class utilizes the Light Armored Hull and Hull Integrated Systems as its armor.

The Panopteles is among the number of newer Elysian designs to take advantage of the newer Organic Nature of design.

The Panopteles makes use of Mnemosyne, the same organic computer system used on the Crataeis.

The ECN Combined Sensors Array, included with the Mnemosyne system, is used on the Panopteles.

The Panopteles has a total of 18 Elysian Escape Pods, lining the edge of the chapel on the upper deck. These are supplemented by a pair of devices (similar to the Yamataian Soul Savior system), one located on the bridge and the other in engineering, which contain the last backup information on record for every current crewmember on the ship, and any additions authorized by the captain of the ship.

The Panopteles utilizes the standard Elysian Life Support as part of it's organic structure.

The Panopteles makes use of standard combined field technology, with only slight alterations to assist with stealth operations, and long-term feasibility of service.

The Panopteles makes use of three forms of propulsion - auxiliary sublight engines, Combined Field technology acquired in a gift from the Yamatai Star Empire, and a hyperspace fold drive.

Located in the 'tail' of the ship, the auxiliary engines can propel the lightly-armored Panopteles at speeds of up to .4c, providing quality performance on par with nearly any other ship.

The Panopteles makes use of Combined Field technology acquired from Yamatai - very advanced Combined Field technology similar to that used in the Plumeria-class (2D) Medium Gunship. The top speed is largely secret, though as the system was provided to the Elysian Celestial Navy by the YSE, the Star Army of Yamatai is quite aware of its limitations.

See: Combined Field System

The Panopteles has a fairly standard hyperspace fold drive capable of repositioning the ship through space at a relative speed of 0.85 light years for every minute elapsed. The fold generator takes time to charge relative to the intended distance traveled: roughly 3 seconds for every light year jumped, with a maximum effective range of 25 light years.

See: Hyperspace Travel

• 2 Elysian Battle Cannons located on the underside of the main body of the ship. Due to the smaller generator present on the Panopteles compared to the size the weapon was originally designed for, the firing rate of the main cannons is approximately halved, though superior power distribution could most likely improve that statistic in the short term.
• 24 Phasic Missile Tubes, 12 tubes located on either wing. These must be reloaded manually after each use, and are primarily meant for use against other small ships or mecha, with the limited capacity and staying power of the Panopteles. They can also be loaded with the mini-probes which were designed specifically for use by the Panopteles class.

Aendri created this article on 2011/10/20 04:00; Soresu approved it on 2011/10/25 19:22.